Miami Herald Alleges Woman Spent Night in Hart Apartment

MIAMI--Reporters for The Miami Herald followed a young woman from Miami to a Washington townhouse belonging to Gary Hart, and the newspaper said in yesterday's editions that she "spent Friday night and most of Saturday" with Hart.

Hart, the front-runner for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, denied any personal relationship with the woman and denied any impropriety when questioned by Herald reporters Saturday night.

"No one was staying in my apartment," Hart told the newspaper. "I have no personal relationship with the individual you are following."

Hart described the woman as "a friend of mine" who had come to Washington to visit friends of hers, the Herald said. The newspaper did not identify the woman involved.

The newspaper quoted an unidentified source it described as independent as saying the woman joined the former Colorado senator at Hart's invitation.

Hart's campaign manager, William Dixon, said in a statement yesterday from Washington that the story was "preposterous and inaccurate" and suggested the paper has engaged in "character assassinations."

Hart has been dogged by rumors about his personal life since the 1984 presidential campaign. Hart has denied the rumors.

"Follow me around. I don't care. I'm serious. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They'd be very bored," Hart was quoted as saying in yesterday's editions of The New York Times Magazine.

The Herald said its reporters followed the unidentified woman starting with a Friday afternoon flight from Miami to Washington.

The reporters watched Hart and the woman leave his townhouse Friday at 9:30 p.m. and return at 11:17 p.m., the Herald said. Hart told the Herald they had returned because "she had left some things at the house," and that she left again 10 or 15 minutes later.

The reporters next saw Hart and the woman at 8:40 p.m. Saturday, and interviewed Hart on the street about 30 minutes later, the Herald said.

Hart said his wife, Lee, was in Denver for the weekend, the Herald said.

Hart told the newspaper he met the young woman several months ago. The newspaper described her as an actress in her 20s who lives in Miami.

Hart campaign manager Dixon said the allegations in the Herald story are "preposterous and inaccurate in their entirety. They have taken a casual acquaintance and a simple dinner with three friends and political supporters and attempted to make a story where there is none."

And Dixon condemned the methods used by the paper.

"The system, when reduced to hiding in bushes, peeking in windows and personal harassment, has clearly run amok," he said. "Those who cover politics have some duty of self-restraint. Here the boundaries of journalistic ethics have clearly been crossed."

"Senator Hart accepts the scrutiny that comes with his leadership role in the Democratic Party and the country. But scrutiny and questions of character are one thing: character assassinations are entirely another," Dixon added.